"Foresight"

Forest outside Regan, Day 150

        Torrent groaned and spit some of the dirt out of his mouth.  He
felt his shoulder, it hurt but it would probably be fine.  He started to
get up, but as soon as he did he saw him, the man who was carrying the 
strange purple orb, looking at him with an expression of fear.
	The Spyre agent jumped up and pulled out his dagger all in one
motion.  To his surprise, the man's fear had already faded.  The Manta in
front of him now looked more relieved than anything.  Torrent frowned,
"What's wrong with you, Forager?  You looked more afraid of me when I was
lying on the ground than when I drew a weapon."
	The man shrugged, "I thought I saw a swordtiger coming at me.  But
all that happened was that you came rolling down that hill like a fallen
branch.  I'm not afraid of a lone Spyre agent."
	Torrent gritted his teeth, "You should be.  Spyre agents receive
much better combat training than someone like you ever could."
	The Manta was about to say something, but suddenly both of them
heard the rest of the Mantas coming toward them.  Torrent and the man with
the purple orb immediately jumped behind bushes for cover.  The angry
group came running over the hill and followed the path through the forest,
running past where the two were hidden.
	As soon as the rest of them were far enough away, the Manta came
out from his hiding place, hoping to make his way back to the ruins of
Regan, where his horse was.  However, before he could go anywhere, Torrent
slammed him against a tree and held a dagger to his neck.  Torrent said,
"Now, you're going to tell me why they were after you.  Is it for that
purple orb thing?"
	The man spat in Torrent's face.  Torrent immediately cut him on
the upper part of his neck, not enough to kill him, but enough to spill
some of his blood.
	"Alright, alright!" the Manta yelled, "They're after me for this
orb.  When one of us finds something valuable like this, we're supposed to
give it to the leader of our camp.  But I tried to hide it from him.  I
need the money I can get for this.  He found out, and I knew he was going
to kill me.  I don't know how, but I saw him killing me, so I ran."
	Torrent pushed the man even harder against the tree, "And what's
so special about that orb?  Is it some kind of jewel or something?"
	The man suddenly started laughing.  Torrent could barely hide his
annoyance with this low life, "What's so funny?"
	The Manta kept laughing, "I saw it.  I saw it as clear as
day.  I can hardly believe it.  Hyru's going to ..."
	Before the man could finish, Torrent heard a growl behind him, and
felt something slash at his leg.  He spun around to see a swordtiger.  It
was hunched on its front legs, displaying the sword-like spikes along its
back and flailing away with its front claws.  Torrent dropped his knife
and jumped up into the tree, climbing as fast as he could to the highest
branch that would support him.
	The Manta tried to follow him up, but the swordtiger grabbed his
leg with its jaw and shook him around.  It threw him down and pounced,
biting at his neck where Torrent had already cut him.  The man screamed
for a moment, but was quickly dead.  The swordtiger looked at the dead
body for a moment, letting out a low growl.  Then it grabbed the body with
its teeth and dragged it away through the forest.
	Torrent watched from the top of the tree and waited
patiently.  Even after the swordtiger was out of sight, he didn't come
down from the tree for a while, partly because the whole thing had scared
him, and partly because it's was possible those Mantas would come back
through there.  He decided to stop waiting though, when he saw that the
man had dropped the purple orb on the ground during the attack.
	He jumped down and picked the orb up.  It was glowing
intermittently, like a firefly.  When it stopped glowing for a moment,
Torrent could read an inscription on it.  It read, "To Liam. May you be
mine forever. Hogran."  He didn't know who Liam or Hogran were, but the
Manta was right, this thing probably had some value.  He held it in his
hand as he started toward Ralla.
	Suddenly, Torrent stopped.  Somehow, an image had popped into his
mind.  He had no idea where it came from, but he knew what it was.  It was
a dangerous riot.  People were rioting in the streets, destroying 
everything.  He knew the riot was in the town of Ralla, because he
recognized the town's meeting hall, which was close to the statue of Hyru
in the center of town.
	He knew the vision couldn't be real.  He was close enough to Ralla
that if a riot like the one he saw was going on, he should be able to hear
it in the distance.  He told himself that he was just shaken from the
encounter with the swordtiger, but the vision was too vivid to
ignore.  
	Even though he knew it was irrational, he turned to the 
Northeast, toward the port town of Vent.  He should be able to make it
there by dark.  Torrent took one last look at the purple orb and put it in
his pocket, then set off toward Vent.